


The Demon's Heiress

by NadyaVamp



Category: Darksiders (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25890604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadyaVamp/pseuds/NadyaVamp
Summary: Maya has the gift to see the future by visions that comes from her dreams, a heritage from her father's blood, but she doesn't know who she really is. A secret kept from her since the beginning. But when she sees herself in the grip of the man that triggered the End War, she realizes that dreams can come true whether you like it or not.
Relationships: Death (Darksiders)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. -- 1 --

Waking up in somewhere you don’t know is one of the most terrifying things that exists. Even for me, and damn, I have been through a lot in my life, moments like this, that I could never get used to. I wanted to stay in control and waking up chained in a dark place stripped me of that.   
As usual, it was confusing at first, but I could feel the fear coming and growing as I noticed the cuffs in my wrists, but chains added to them, tying me down to the ground, in a way I wasn’t able to move too much. It was dark enough to make my eyes stay wide open, the heat making me feel disoriented and tired, not to mention the headache and it felt like I had the worst hangover ever. 

Huh… my brothers would surely sit down for an entire day listening to me lecturing them. I have GPS in my phone for a reason and they were taking too long to find me.   
I couldn’t say how many hours had passed until I finally heard something. Didn’t know what, but I tried to call its attention. Screaming, of course. What else could I do? But nah, nothing happened, and I just dried out my throat. I could feel my lips chapped and I could use a big glass of cold water in that unbearable heat, but not a single soul came to check on me. The clock kept ticking, though, and I cant say for sure how many times I slept and woke up, and still no one to be seen around. 

At least it was silent and any noise could be heard, just like the metallic sounds I started hearing after a while. Steps, maybe? High heels? I didn’t know. The only thing I knew was my wish to bargain my way out of there or to keep busy whoever was coming towards me until my brothers came. It was still dark, so I could barely see the person even though I knew he or she stopped right in front of me. It bothered me I couldn’t hear the breathing, given the complete silence that was yet to be broken. 

When he started speaking, his voice was low and deep. I could feel a bit of superiority and cynicism, even though it made me get goosebumps. Maybe I could make my way out trying to fight him? Let him speak about himself, brag and get any chance I can? Tempting. 

“Hope you enjoyed your long sleep, little human”

That voice was so familiar. For some reason, I linked that voice to a face in my head and it wasn’t what I expected. Was I dreaming? Well, maybe it was the heat, and I was finally hallucinating. 

“Where am I? What is this place?”

“Hell” the voice was in a calm tone and it didn’t even come to his mind that I would not believe that. I could do nothing but to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“Hell? Really?” I stopped laughing after a while. “Okay, is this some kind of prank?”

“You wish it was a prank. I think you slept for long enough to forget what happened. Or maybe was I too rough on you with the torture?” He started circling around me, slowly and his voice was still calm “You know useful things for me, but still refuses to cooperate”

“Alright, where is everybody? You can show up now, guys. Its not funny.”

He sighed, showing he was getting impatient “Why do you humans have such a fragile mind?” I felt him pulling me up, his grip in my arm so tight I bet he had the strength to easily break it. The chains were loosened from the ground and he started taking me somewhere. 

Rather rough, the way he was conducting me barely gave me room to walk, so he was practically dragging me over wherever he wanted to. I tried breaking free from his grip, but damn, that man was strong. 

I could see a faint white light coming from the end of the corridor and as we got near it, it almost burnt my eyes. For a while I didn’t realize that there was no floor below us and when I did, I almost fainted. I hate heights, and yet it seemed that there was nothing but him stopping my immediate fall. 

It seemed we were above a big desert, and I could see some crude constructions around, all really weird looking. There was a better-looking tower nearby, another one in the distance, and I could see some small dots moving in the sand. It was all starting to be familiar to me, as if I had been there before, and I kept eyeing everything without a single word from the man holding me up.

I dared look behind me when he put me to solid ground, finally having a notion of the one that had been talking to me this whole time and I froze. There he was, the guy in my dreams, the guy I linked the voice to, and then… Memories. From all of that. From all that I’ve been through there, from all that I knew... And then it hit me hard.  
Shit, everything he was saying was true. 

“So, do you remember it now? Or do you need to have your memory refreshed?”

I froze and not a single word could leave my mouth. I couldn’t recall how long I had been there, but all the pain from all his torture was now well alive in my head. And here I thought I already knew all kinds of torture from back in the day…

He dragged me back to where I was when I woke up, securing the chains back to the floor and just dropping me on the ground. I was too scared to even react, “I already let you sleep for longer than I should’ve. I offer you the same thing: you can tell me what I want, or I can just keep with the torture. Your call.”

“What will you do if I tell you?” I tried to mask the fear in my voice “I’ve met guys like you. The moment I open my mouth you’ll kill me” 

“I have some decency, human, and I keep my words. Maybe there can be a reward for the information, if it helps" 

“I don’t think your words worth that much since you are a Fallen" I was starting to remember what he wanted “If what I can recall now is true, I’ve been here for a long while and haven’t said a word, so... Why don’t you just go ahead and kill me? Is not that it will change the outcome for you anyway.”

There was one thing I’ve learned that is when your captor wants some information from you he won’t kill you unless he gets the information by other means. And for what I could remember, his clock was ticking and no one else knew what I knew. 

I couldn’t see him well, but I knew he was with his closed fists, holding the urge to hit me or anything. But he was still a bit patient, so he just controlled his anger and walked away.

As he left, there was no need for me to hide the pain I was feeling anymore. As the memories were coming back, I remembered him healing me as I was drifting in an out of consciousness, after all he didn’t want me to die, but even though the wounds weren’t there anymore, the pain was still present. 

After my mind was fully aware of what happened, the sadness hit me. It seemed that it was harder this time. Earth was destroyed, humans were annihilated and, apparently, I was the last one, and, as so, I had lost my brothers. 

Why was I keeping the information from him anyways? He’d be doing me a favour in killing me. I had nothing to go back to, and in no way I would accept his offer to whatever he would say, probably to become one of his servants, and if so, I’d rather die. Keeping it from him was just making me suffering worse.

I was once just a normal human, with my life, my family, friends, and my ordinary life that I liked pretty much, but I always had these weirdest dreams, as if I had been watching or playing fantasy fiction for five days straight and couldn’t get it out of my head, but after all this mess happened I realised that those weren’t dreams and everything was really happening. Therefore, I knew that that guy was going to die and obviously he would do anything to prevent that from happening. 

How he knew that I knew he would die, or that I, a random human, knew anything at all was what surprised me. Maybe I was market or something? I didn’t know and couldn’t think anymore once I couldn’t stay awake for much longer. Being on such hot ground and with that much pain wasn’t doing me any good. I felt weak, blacking out for twice or three times, to pass out on the fourth.

It must’ve happened the other times, but now, I realised how vivid some of those dreams were, as if I was living them, or maybe it was just my past feelings, since all of that conversation with the guy from before came in again, and more torture, as usual. I dreamt about other things as well, I knew I had, but by the time I woke up I was so tired that I couldn’t keep my mind on track, as if I was under anaesthesia and wasn’t able to control myself, and usually there were only fragments that I couldn’t put up together to build something concrete, but kept thinking about them just so I wouldn’t forget.

Perhaps because it was something that was about to happen anytime soon, I kept seeing that guy’s death, Abaddon by the way, over and over. It was something pleasant to watch, not gonna lie, and knowing that it would truly happen? Gee, I wish I could see it in person, I bet it would be even better seeing him getting his mouth shut. 

Then I saw myself, something like a red and purple light around me and it felt different, as if there was something happening to my body, and it certainly was. Felt just like what I could feel from Abaddon, some strange form of power that could make me flinch at first sight. Maybe that one was really only a dream? That I would never be able to know.   
The next fragment was of someone that I couldn’t see too well to tell any features that would distinguish the person besides the shoulder-length black hair and this deep male voice, that was doing his best to fight something way bigger. Even though he looked back over his shoulder sometimes, his eyes directly staring at me, I couldn’t see his face properly, and even though I was lying to myself, I treated it like just a dream once more. It would be better for my mental health if I didn’t let those dreams get in my mind more than they already were. 

The second time I drifted off to sleep, though, I saw my brothers and the only thing I felt was pain. Not physical, but the one that couldn’t be healed, the one you feel in your heart. As the memories came, and I believed more and more in what Abaddon was saying, I could only dream about a thousand of ways that they may have died of since Earth was taken by the demons. How long have they survived? Did they look for me? 

The dream was happy, though. We were in a pretty backyard; sat on the greener grass I had ever seen. I was in between them, both hugging me, and it felt like home. We were just making small talk as they updated me on their lives and even though I knew it would make me feel sad and worse, that one I tried to believe to be a “vision”, as Abaddon put it once, and hope that, somehow, everything awful that happened to Earth and my life would come to a sense. 

But dreams can turn into nightmares, and this one was a very brief. There was a voice, talking directly to me, saying that now that I was aware of everything, my life would change   
completely and not for the best. The voice, despite calm and soothing, also had this chilling aspect to it and inspired fear, caution, making me have an urge to step back and go away. As he finished with a “see you soon”, the fragment ended and I woke up, Abaddon patiently waiting in front of me, arms crossed.

“Ready for an agreement?”

Great…

I could just kill myself right there.


	2. Chapter 2

I once thought I knew all kinds of torture, and I really did know ‘em all. Human ways, at least. Fallen angels can be quite… Unique and ruthless.   
There was pain in more parts of my body than I could count, and I probably had some broken bones that I didn’t even know could break. The heat that flowed through my body was not from my surrounding, but from burns that now ornated my flesh. He was also starving me, a method I knew very well and was used to, but then I learned that he could undo all of that in order to start over again multiple times and it was actually starting to piss me off.   
But then, there wasn’t much I could do in my current situation, not that I could do anything in my best day anyway, but I at least would try and come up with something, as always.   
Each day, if I could even call it day, he would wake me up in a new kind of torture and damn, that guy was really persistent. I had seen bad guys give up for much less than that and end up killing their hostage, but apparently that one information was so important that he was willing to lose his sanity watching me resist him. I am not a good hostage to keep. 

“Hope that was enough time to think since your memories are back, human” There was a bit of light now, and my eyes were more used to the darkness, and I could partially see his face this time “Your clock is ticking, I wont keep you alive for much longer, and my patience is running low.”

“How do you expect me to think straight with not a single break from your tortures? Without food or anything? I’m frying here, man! Literally. You did not give me time to think about anything. And my question still remains: How can I be sure you won’t kill me?”

“You already said you don’t trust me, so… You can’t be sure.” He shrugged “But I am not like you, humans. You would actually do me a favour by telling me, so why would I kill you? You could still be useful”

“Because I would”

He laughed “Enjoyed being an outlaw on earth, didn’t you?”

“Just as much you enjoy being a Fallen.” I smiled as he flinched “Was it easy turning your back on everything you once believed? I mean, it takes guts to give up on your post, your prestige, the one you loved… For what? Some vague promise to rule over a shattered world? Is it worth it?” Even with little light, I could see anger changing his smile to a pissed of grin and I liked that. “Oh, did I pick on an open wound? Still not over it, right?”

He moved faster than I could realize, his hand on a tight grip on my neck and I really thought he would kill me right there, breaking my neck just like he would do a toothpick, but   
he only chocked me – as if it wasn’t bad for its own –, his eyes glowing red in anger and he growled at me.

“You are playing with your life, here, human. You still don’t know what I am capable of!”

“Its not my fault you’re a damn traitor!” I barely managed to speak, holding tight on his arms with both my hands “And I love to dream of you dying every time! Because that’s what a traitor deserves!”

In a rampant of rage, he didn’t control his own strength as he pulled me against the ground, pinning me down to the floor with his hand still on my throat. I lost my breath for a while and it felt like my lungs were about to explode, everything burning inside as I tried to grasp for air.

“You will beg for me to kill you” I heard him saying before finally getting his hand off of me and walking away. I smiled, though, feeling victorious.   
I wasn’t even able to move, and I was probably all broken up. Didn’t bother me, though, as I lost consciousness just seconds after that.

In normal circumstances, I would’ve cursed myself and my stupid big mouth, because he really meant it when he said I would beg to die. Being pissed off made the torture way worse and he took longer to heal me, enjoying seeing me suffer, and when he would heal me, he did that as slowly as possible, as everything that was being put back in place hurt as hell. After some days, he stopped healing my face, and let me say it that being a girl did not make him go easy on me and maybe I’d be left with some scars there if he kept refusing to heal them. 

It didn’t cross my mind even for a second that a Fallen doesn’t just loses his grace and honours of being a Heaven’s finest, but the darkness has a way to twist the angel’s mind and basically turn the person into the worst version of himself willing to do anything in his power to make me spit everything. Well… We were about to see who was the most patient one. 

I knew that was risky, that one day my body could just give up, but it made little difference for me. I had nothing to live for after all, or so I thought.

Those dreams started to show me other things, but they were unclear as if a fog was covering them, showed my brothers again and it filled my heart with hope that I would meet them again, and that was my only comfort. Perhaps, the only thing keeping me alive as well. And it was heart-warming when the dreams shifted to memories, showing me my golden days with them on Earth...

\-----****------

“Hey little sis” I heard this familiar voice from behind me, and my heart just skipped a beat. I turned to look and just saw my oldest brother standing there, open arms, just waiting for me to run for him as I’ve always done.

The impact of me running towards him almost made him fall back if not for the closed door behind us and I just hugged him as strong as I could, burying my face in his clothes, felling just hug me back. It had been so long since we had last seen each other, and it felt like ages ago.

“Oh my God, how long, Alex!” 

“How’s it going darling?” He kissed me affectionately on my cheek, his hands caressing my back and holding me tight. I took a while to answer, just enjoying having him so close once again.

“Everything’s fine! But, why are you here? You said you didn’t know when you’d be able to come!”

“Well, I lied” He laughed “I wanted to make you a surprise.” And he laughed again when I hit him in the arm “Hey, is that the way you treat your big brother? Didn’t like the surprise?”

“Of course I did! But a heads up would be nice”

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?” He placed a kiss on my head, holding me tight once more “Oh, I missed you, my little girl”

“Did you come to stay this time?” I gave him the best puppy eyes I had, hoping to hear something Id like.

“Maybe…”

“What do you maybe?!”

“Well, Jason said you’re ruining things around here, so I need to stay and put everything back in place”

He instantly laughed as I had an angry face showing up “I’m gonna beat his ass today, I swear it!”

“Hey, calm down, angry dog. He didn’t say that…”

“Ma’am, sorry for interrupting your conversation...” one of my employees came with a showcase “The report from the last assignment you gave for my group and the files about our new...Hm... Competitor”

“Competitor?” I picked up the case “Well, that’s new. Thank you, I’ll take a look at it later”

“Anytime, ma’am” He nodded lightly “Good to see you again, Mr. Alex” And left. 

“Little sister with a competitor...” Alex joked with me.

“Not for long.” I told him, putting the case under my arm “I’ll cut it down. I’m the only queen of business around here. But... let’s go to the office. Jason may be there, and besides, it is a real company. I have things to do “

As I expected, there Jason was, too focused on his own files to notice us coming inside, walking slowly as Alex intended to surprise him, pulling him close to a tight big brother hug. Speechless, Jason could only hug him back, strong as he could, while taking a deep breath in relief. He knew his older brother would come home eventually but seeing him there by surprise was such a happy thing that he let himself be overwhelmed by emotions.

What? We may be criminals, but we still have feelings. Not saying that what we do is right, but we’re not robots. 

The three of us were closer than anyone could imagine and being apart just hurt as if we were only one person. Long trips, business or not, were always a nightmare when we couldn’t go together, and we would call each other all the time to make sure everything was alright. 

Being the youngest sibling, though, meant most of those calls were to make sure I was ok and handling everything just fine. Part of me hated that overprotective way they had with me, but the other part just loved being watched over even when they were distant.

“I’m so glad you’re back, brother! I… didn’t imagine you’d come home without telling us.”

“Well, surprise” He laughed. 

“Where have you been?” Jason asked, sitting on the chair beside him “What did you do? 

“Many places, brother and did many wonderful things but even there, business followed. I may even have made an associate, but we can discuss that later. You two should take some time for yourselves and travel a little bit. We have a lot of money, but it is useless if you two stay here all day”

“We will travel, Alex, eventually, when we can” I laughed “ But there are other ways to enjoy our money.”

“Well... she’s right” Jason agreed “Besides, we like this”

“Ah, just come here you two!” Alex said, opening his arms for a group hug. 

No one could say we were not brothers. Besides the height difference between us and one being a woman, me, we have exactly the same colour of hair, eyes, same facial characteristics and even our way to talk. As we hugged in a group hug, I bet it looked like it was only one person in a blur 

“How long will you stay, brother?” I asked 

“Few months.” And a smile got through my face. 

“I could not have gotten a better surprise!” I held him tight with all the strength I had.

\-------******------

On a completely different room, I was taken from my sweet memories as the pain flowed once more. I was so beaten, in such a bad shape that I didn’t even remember waking up and enduring more of that torture. My body could as well be all numbed up and only now allowing me to feel all the pain. It was as if my mind didn’t care anymore, as if being there was only a mechanical response, automatic, only because I still had a beating heart, but inside, even my body was just wishing for it to end. 

“I’m done being kind with you” I could hear Abaddon saying as he walked closer. I could barely see him, eyes so sensible and swollen that I would prefer to keep them shut.   
“Tell me one moment that you were” I rolled my eyes, lowering my head “Just leave me here to die already. I wont tell you a thing, and you could spare yourself to command your demons. You’d win much more from that than insisting on me…” I tried to move, but everything hurt.

“We’ll see about that. Bring them in” 

His voice had this tint of superiority as he said that to his minions and I couldn’t understand why – later, I wished I had never understood it at all -, and I could bet he was smiling while looking at me. The faint light in the room allowed me to see a grin in the corner of his mouth. 

I could hear the clatter of the chains, a characteristic sound I’ve learned to distinguish by now due to my own set, and murmurs on the other side of the door, as well as angry growls telling someone to walk straight through the door. 

I could then see two figures walking inside, heads low as well. By their heights compared to the demons’ escorting them, it was visible they were not the same kin as the others. With a similar silhouette, I started to think that, perhaps, they were humans.

But weren’t all the humans dead?

They were then thrown to the floor, dropped to their knees and Abaddon started to walk around them, as if taking a close look to a precious cargo. 

“I thought you could use some… Incentive.” He snapped his fingers, and all the torches around lit up. 

At first, the light straight to my face in just some seconds made everything burn. From my wounds to my eyes, and I had to look away. It felt like it instantly became hotter – if that was even possible – and unbearable. But after some while, my eyes got used to the bright orange from the fire on the torches, and I was finally able to take a look around. 

The was a mixture of feelings once my eyes fell upon the two people he had brought inside. Years could go by, many things could happen in my life that still would not be enough to keep me from recognizing my own brothers. I had to blink three or four times to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating, rubbing my eyes that were almost instantly filling with tears.

I knew what that meant. Abaddon would use my brothers to make me talk and I couldn’t begin to believe that my worst nightmare was coming true. 

I would end up spilling everything he wanted to know, and then we would all be killed.  
□■□■

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an adendum, guys. When showing a bit of Maya's background as a criminal, i didnt want to specify what he did neither I wanted to say its something nice or anything like that. Its just for the sake of the story. :)


	3. Chapter 3

I don’t think any other sad day in my life could be compared to the hell I was going through since Abaddon showed up with my brothers. I cried every single day that my chest ached every time I sobbed, my eyes were red and swollen and I had no more strength to see them paying for something I could easily put an end to.

Our life back on Earth was not the easiest one. One could say we did choose the easiest way when opting for a criminal record, but that came with a bunch of trouble that I couldn’t have even imagined. And that meant being taken hostage sometimes, so we perfected ourselves, and our brothers in arms, on how to resist to any type of interrogatory, with torture involved, stepping out from our activities and laying low to avoid calling attention while we weren’t ready.

That allowed us to endure captivity on more occasions that I could count and was what was giving me mental strength to go through that mess that my brain still couldn’t process in its whole, but when my brothers were put up on their knees in front of me and being used as punching bag by that son of something unholy, it started to take its toll on me. They have been used against me other times as well and I learned that they would always be my greatest weakness. Apparently, Abaddon knew it too.

It felt like I were a child again and, even though the Fallen general kept asking questions, I could only cry and curl myself up while seeing them getting beaten. I begged for him to stop, I begged him to do that to me and release my brothers, that they had nothing to do with that, but he wouldn’t listen.

“You can end their suffering, human. Just tell me what I need to know”

At first, I refused to believe they were indeed my brothers. That could be just a trick as far as I knew, but then they started to describe how it felt to be dead, roaming in nothingness, and it was such a good explanation that left no room for doubts. Specially when they started to say things only we could’ve known.

Day after day. It was the same. Sleep was the worst part. I wouldn’t do it for free will, my body would just give up and knock me down to force me to rest, but it was filled with nightmares and the lowest whimper I heard from one of them made me open my eyes in a second, wanting to see if something was happening to them.

Abaddon was clever enough to shorten my chains so I couldn’t get near them, so weak and beaten that didn’t even needed to be chained. They weren’t able to even walk and posed no threat to an army of fully armed demons, that could easily cut us in half if they wanted to.

I started to fear that they wouldn’t handle that much longer. Unlike me, Abaddon was not healing them and he might be an Angel and endure all of that, but forgot how fragile we are compared to them. And the only thing going on my mind was that I should tell the Fallen angel once and for all what he wanted to know. Maybe accepting his offer of joining his army – I knew it wouldn’t survive for too long, so perhaps I could be free again once he was dead –, but how could I be sure he would be true to his word and not kill me or my brothers?

My eyes watered and I couldn’t help but to drop heavy tears “I’m sorry you’ve been dragged here… I… cant stand seeing you guys like that…”

“Don’t you dare say a word to that guy. We’ve been through this, we did this and survived plenty of times” Alex, my oldest brother, was always father-like, the wisest as well. “He will kill us”

“What does he want to know after all?” Jason didn’t move, he had his back to us. He was probably too broken up to move. “And why would you have what he wants?”

“I don’t know… He wants to know about what happens to him in the future, but don’t ask me how I know. I just… Know. Everything.

“Like that weird thing you did as a kid?” Alex asked “Is it for real?”

“Apparently” I tried to get closer to them but my whole body so sore that the smallest move hurt “I don’t want to see you guys suffer like that...” I started crying once more “Why do I always put you in situations like this…?”

The sound of the door opening filled the room in loud echoes and I tried to take a deep breath. By that time, I’ve learned to distinguish the clanking of his armour from the rest of his servants, as well as his steps; hard and strong, almost making the ground tremble. And there he was again, one of his minions walking towards Jason, that despite all the pain he mustve been feeling at that moment, rose his head proudly and did not fear those monstruous faces.

There was a set of chains at the corner of the room, dangling from the ceiling and Jason was put up there so easily that he looked like a ragdoll. Alex was clenching his teeth in anger when he heard his brother complain, his sense of protectiveness beeping in his head and making him more nervous that he couldn’t do anything. If he had a way to, he would just engage in body combat and free us three, but it would be completely useless.

The Fallen Angel then approached a tired and wounded Jason that refused to lower his head. The big hands from the bulkier man just held him by the chin to take a better look on all of his wounds. There was a low laughter echoing from the angel’s throat and the quick remark that maybe that was the final torture session for that one “He wont survive after this.”

My heart raced. What was that bastard planning on doing? Or was he going to go so far that my brother would just succumb to it?

For a while, I had to close my eyes as Jason’s muffled screams filled the air with pure agony. I cried, too many times, trying to stay true to my convictions and keep my mouth shut, but it was becoming too hard to do it. I knew what he was doing to my brother, I knew the pain, and knew that they did not deserve to suffer.

Not for me.

Not anymore.

Maybe, it was my time to protect my brothers, after all the times they had protected me.

“Stop it!” I shouted.

The Fallen looked over his shoulder, a grin adorning his face. “Changed your mind?”

“Just… Let them go, please…” I looked away, ashamed “I’ll tell you everything you want…”

He let go of my brother’s debilitated body, the sound of the chains on his wrists being the only sound for a while. “Alright, let set some rules then. I won’t torture them anymore, but they will remain here, in case you try to trick me.”

“I have a rule as well!” I looked him in the eye “I will only talk when they are healed. Completely!”

“That wont be a problem.” He looked at one of his minions again, telling him to release my brother from the chains.

Soon, they were all by my side again, and I couldn’t bare looking at them. Alex probably was disappointed the most, and Jason… I think he would understand. They were healed in some minutes, chained to the opposite wall from me to prevent escaping and my own chains were being released. For the first time, Abaddon was gentle with me, holding me by the arm and helping me stand up.

“Let’s chat a bit.”

Looking down at the floor, I glanced over my brothers quickly, eyes watered as they followed me with their own eyes.

“I’m sorry… It was my time to protect you two…”

Coping with him gave me some good treatment for once. He allowed me to clean myself, new clothes that consisted in pre-armour garment, but well, I wasn’t in the mood to say anything, and food. I craved for food since the third of fourth day I was there, but I got used to the crumbs they gave me once in a while, so the smell of a proper banquet made my mouth water.

And I felt guilty.

I was accepting all of that without even questioning, and my brothers were still there chained down like dogs and that made me stop eating. The food suddenly seemed stodgy, stuck down my throat and making me feel sick. I could’ve said no... I could’ve endured a bit more, but... Oh God...

He showed up after a while, with a calm aura around him this time, even happy I dared say. Perhaps having what he wanted calmed down his nerves. He started to tell how things were going to be, as well as saying that I could keep all that treatment I was having as long as I kept telling him what he wanted, that my brothers would stay chained in case I stopped cooperating and as a reminder of who had the upper hand there.

“you can start talking”

I took a deep breath and searched my mind for where to start.

Apparently, when you make a Fallen happy, his mood turns out to be totally different. He was kinder as the days passed by and treated me better than I could expect, sweet even. Of course, with some restrictions, I gained his trust as I revealed, piece by piece, what he wanted. He left my brothers untouched as well, and that was something that eased my heart.

But what would we do once my knowledge was not useful to him anymore? I didn’t want all the suffering my brothers went through to be in vain

He arched his brows once I stopped talking, visibly irritated that my words ceased to fill his ears. “What’s wrong?”

“What will happen to us once I tell you everything I know?” my head was still low as I kept looking at my sweaty hands.

I heard him chuckle and standing up, walking around the table to get closer to me. “There’s a reason why you know this all. Perhaps you can still be useful afterwards if everything you say is true”

“It is... I think...” I mumbled.

“You think?”

“I thought they were only dreams my whole life. Something that came from all of my fantasy comic books and games. I thought... It was just my mind giving me something to keep me occupied...”

“It happened only in dreams?” and I only nodded, agreeing “Alright then, we’re finished for now”

Without a word, I just stood up and left.

The shame I was feeling burned inside of me in such a way that I wasn’t sure I would be able to look my brothers in the eyes anymore. After all those years, after all the training we did to prevent situations like that, it went all down the drain. I just hope they’d understand their life was seriously in danger this time.

But something in my mind suddenly clicked and it felt as if I was put back in place, like engines being put together to work.

I was not about to stay miserable like that forever and let him manipulate me as he pleased. I had to move and show him I was not the one to be messed with and I was about to get the upper hand in that damn show. If we were to be “partners”, that he knew i would have more than just some courtesy.

Thanks to me cooperating, there were some liberties I could take, such as walk around a limited radius without a growling demon behind me and that included the place my brothers were kept. For some days, I would only listen them from behind the door, not having the guts to face them, just listening to their voices was enough.

But that day, I would go inside and talk to them, say how I did that for them and just hoped to be forgiven. But before entering, I stood outside for a while, noticing how quiet it was inside – my brothers never shut up, it was quite annoying sometimes – and I opened the door slowly just to find that the room was completely empty.

I panicked.

Where the hell were they?

Without making noises, I tried to walk around the place to find out if they had been taken elsewhere and what could possibly be happening to them, when I suddenly had to hide myself upon hearing some demons talking. It was not like they’d kill me instantly, but that was a particular place I was not supposed to be in, so I just stood behind a column to overhear what they were saying.

As they appeared from the corner, I realised they were actually two Fallen, lazily stretching their body as if they just had the longest day in work. I covered my mouth to muffle my breathing noises and started to pay attention.

“ _How much longer do you think we’ll have to keep up with this?”_

_“I don’t know”_ the other one shrugged “ _But I honestly am tired of impersonating them. Useless and limiting human vessels.”_ His face showed disgust _“Is it true? What the girl says?”_

_“I hope it is. Otherwise we will serve as the puppets to impersonate her brothers' deaths and I’m not in the mood to be stabbed"_

I left out a short gasp.

They were... Impersonating my brothers? That whole damn thing was faked?! They weren’t there the whole time?!

The two Fallen probably heard as I gasped and my irregular breathing – i hate the silence in those moments – and grew quiet for some seconds. I knew they were getting near me as their shadows grew higher on the wall and my heart raced.

They’d know I heard the conversation, Abaddon would know that I knew the whole thing was faked and I would probably go back to be chained and tortured again. Or probably be killed just to prevent him more headaches.

From the corridor in the distance, I heard a whistle coming from another Fallen – apparently, even being a fallen they don’t mix up with the other demons – calling for their attention.

“ _What the hell are you two doing? Abaddon is calling us right now!”_

_“We heard something here”_

_“Just leave it. If its someone invading it will be dealt with. You don’t want to keep him waiting. He’s not in the mood”_

It took some seconds, but, reluctantly, the two Fallen gave up and followed the other one.

Relieved, I ran as fast as I could to the part I was allowed to walk around, my mind racing, thinking about how could they fake my brothers to me, how could they be so vile to use that against me and worse, how could that be so... genuine? We talked to each other, they knew me, they knew what to answer, exactly how my brothers would.

The anger boiled up in me as I realised how easily I was tricked into doing what he wanted. I grinned my teeth, clenching my fists as I walked back to where I had to be. I was so angry that I could feel my cheeks burning and probably had the worst scowl imaginable.

That was when I decided I wouldn’t stay there for a day longer, and essentially when I fucked up everything.

I started to wonder past the limits I was allowed again, sneaking past some demons that could barely notice me. Being small and silent had its perks and I used it for my benefit.

The place wasn’t that big, but it felt I was walking around in circles as everything seemed the same no matter where I looked, perhaps it was strategic, and kept walking until I had to hide myself again. This time, a Fallen and a higher demon commander were walking side by side, talking to each other almost like friends.

_“Do you trust those two to guard the reflecting pool?”_ The Fallen seemed concerned and I was curious. It was not the first time I was hearing about this reflecting pool and I wanted to know what it was.

The demon looked behind his shoulder to the corridor they had just come from “ _I do. They are competent. And well, if we were to be worried about anything would be about any Fallen being here as a spy.”_

_“That again?”_ the winged one rolled his eyes _“We don’t follow Heaven anymore. And even if anyone would try to go back, not even killing the Destroyer would open the White City's gates again"_ their voice started to fade as they were going away “ _Anyway, do you know where the pool leads to?”_

_“Its still being build. Its pretty unstable, so it could get you anywhere. To the Abyss even"_

_“Better not fall into it, then. Do you know if...”_ They disappeared through a door and the conversation was cut.

So... The thing guarded by two demons was something like a portal that could essentially take me anywhere and would make it difficult for them to find me again, as it was unstable. I had my way out, I just needed to get past those two.

I freaked out once I heard something sniffling behind me and growling. Oh, I knew that sound too well to recognise a hound, even if it was a hellish one. Slowly turning away, the dog had his sharp canines showing up as it growled, its eyes glowing red as it was basically ready to jump onto my neck and do its job. Of course, it’s growling drew attention of those two demons, that took surprisingly long to get to me.

“what are you doing here?” the guttural voice of one of them resonated in my ear.

I didn’t dare to take my eyes from the dog “I got lost... this place is all the same everywhere I look.” The sweat was rolling down my face.

I was terrified of dogs, really.

“So follow us back"

“could you please tell this... dog to get out...?”

The demon laughed at my visible fear and just shushed the dog away with the tip of his spear, as if it was an inoffensive thing. It took a while, but the dog finally went away. I sighed in relief and barely forgot what I was doing there.

“How can you guys know where you’re going in here?” I tired to have a small talk while walking ad slowly as possible.

They didn’t even bother to look at me while talking and that was the easiest escape I’ve ever made. You’d think demons would be harder to deceive, but they’re still stupid as human henchmen were.

Once they look behind their shoulder, I had ran more than half of the corridor and was almost opening the big door they were guarding before. I heard them screaming at me to stop and their footsteps while running behind me felt like little earthquakes, at least for me. Once inside, I thought about barring the door with something, but there was no time and nothing I could use to do it, so I just search for the said pool.

Weirdly enough, the pool is not an actual pool with water as I imagined. It looks like it has water in it, but as if it’s trapped inside a mirror. But I had no time to think about how it looked and immediately stepped on it. Not knowing how it worked, I just thought about getting out of there or die trying and hoping it would do its job and I could see the water below me starting to move.

And then only pain.

I felt the taste of the blood in my mouth as I gasped with the piercing pain and bent down on my knee. As I looked down, the spear the demon was holding before was now through me, one clean hit as it pierced through in my back an left my skin through my stomach, just like a gunshot wound. My heart raced as my vision blurred, the demons walking closer as if they had just won without knowing the pool was already doing its job.

Well, it felt I would die trying after all.


End file.
